Thomas Santo, MD

An important article was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, titled The Oregon Experiment — Effects of Medicaid on Clinical Outcomes. This study provides a rare look at the effects of expanding Medicaid coverage (specifically, Oregon Health Plan, Oregon’s version of Medicaid) to a population of previously uninsured patients. Having practiced medicine in Portland, ...

The digital health revolution is in full swing, and there are an abundance of new mobile and web-based digital health tools that address everything from nutrition and exercise habits to disease-specific conditions and hospitalization. Consumers have embraced the new trend, and are becoming more actively involved in tracking and managing their own health.
This is an incredibly important paradigm shift on the oft-ignored side of the health care equation: the patient. ...

“Pay for performance” made headlines again this week, when Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the multi-billion dollar corporation which operates New York City’s public hospitals, announced that they will be linking physician reimbursement to pre-determined “quality” metrics and patient satisfaction scores.
This announcement comes quickly on the heels of details recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding its first Medicare payment adjustment to hospitals under the ...